Why Early Retirement Isn’t My Goal (and Shouldn’t Be Yours Either)

Hey everyone! Today I have a great guest post for you by RHMM of RightHandMoneyMan.com. EVERYONE is talking about early retirement right now, so I think it's really interesting to see a different perspective on it. This post definitely made me consider what my definition of “retirement” actually is. Enjoy! ~M$M

Early retirement is all the rage right now in personal finance. There are literally thousands of websites and blogs documenting different people’s progress toward this goal, and everyone is just clamoring for the day they no longer have to answer to “the man.”

As I read others’ thoughts and walk my own finance journey, I’m wondering if we’re missing the mark just a bit.

I’m not knocking any of you pursuing early retirement, but I do want to offer you a different perspective.

What is Retirement?

First off, what are we chasing when we talk about retirement? For most of us, it seems like we’re envisioning a life on the beach with a drink that has one of those little umbrellas in our hands and our cares far away.

We get to sleep without an alarm clock, hop on a plane whenever we want, and no one needs a thing from us.

I would suggest that “retirement” for the vast majority of people means the total absence of work.

Early retirement, then, is reserved for those of us extreme people who are willing to lick a lettuce leaf a day for our grocery budget and never buy our kids Christmas presents.

Retirement is still a very new concept in our society. If you go back even just 100 years and try to explain the thought of reaching a point in life where you get to stop working, you’d probably be met with some confused expressions.

To be honest, not working for three or four decades sounds like it would get pretty old to me. I’m not really interested in just hanging around till I die. Let me explain:

I’m a producer, not a consumer…

I enjoy working. It brings me a ton of satisfaction and purpose when I put in a full effort, step back, and see that it produced something that wasn’t there before. Meaningful work brings me a ton of purpose.

This ranges from landscaping my yard to serving my non-profit to creating a website to help people with their finances. I am motivated to bring things to people’s lives, as well as my own, that improve them. You know what it requires to make that happen? Work and resources.

What I think a lot of us are trying to leave behind isn’t work in general, but just work that we don’t connect with.

Re-Define Retirement

For me, financial independence means one thing above all else: FREEDOM. I want the freedom to choose my own path.

I don’t think of retirement as the day that will come when I just sit around deteriorating until I die. My definition of retirement is having the resources to be able to do work on my own terms.

When I no longer need the income from a job, I’m free to objectively pursue the business opportunities that mean the most to me. Having enough money to “retire” puts me in position to start something new or to take a risk that someone needing a steady paycheck can’t.

I’m FREE to make a difference. A life’s work is what I’m interested in building, not just a retirement savings.

It All Works Together

I think too many of us over-compartmentalize our lives. We have our family, job, physical health, hobbies, spiritual life, a cause we support, etc. Somewhere along the way, we let someone convince us that work was stealing time and energy away from the other compartments.

Meaningful work that brings passion and energy to you rather than draining it from you actually feeds the other areas. Early retirement is being in a place where you’re able to follow that passion, work with purpose, and make the world more awesome because of what you produce.

Yes, I want to go to the beach and hang with my wife and our (future) kids more often. Of course, I want to be in full control of my schedule. But for our family, we want to get to the end of our lives and be proud of the body of work we’ve built.

We want to leave behind a legacy that has made a great life for not only our family, but countless others.

I simply don’t think I can accomplish that in just a few years. I think it’ll take me right up to my dying breath.

However, If I’m living in freedom along the way, it won’t feel like the “work” so many are trying to escape.

About Millennial Money Man

Bobby Hoyt is a former band director who paid off $40,000 of student loan debt in 18 months on his teaching salary and then left his job to run Millennial Money Man full-time. He helps other Millennials earn more through side hustles, save more through budgeting tools and apps, and pay off debt. He is a personal finance expert who has been seen on Forbes, Reuters, MarketWatch, CNBC, International Business Times, Business Insider, US News, Yahoo Finance, and many other personal finance and entrepreneurship media outlets.

Comments

Amazing post I couldn’t agree more. I don’t ever really think I will “retire” and never work again. I enjoy working too much and I will always be one to volunteer and do work for free. I think retirement for me is way more about not having to punch the clock to make money but instead enjoy my job and not have to rely on the income it brings.

Your point about enjoying it along the way is something I daily am working on! As I have seen way too many people “lick the lettuce” and make it, only to end up in a car crash or something else where they no longer are alive or can enjoy the retirement they have worked so hard for! Why not enjoy it along the way?

As someone who struggles to sit still and not be doing something, I find it hard to think about retirement. We are also 26 so even saying the word retirement sounds weird. Right now in our life we have a great work/life balance by living well below our means. This has enabled us to go on 2-3 vacations a year and not have to worry about money or when our next paycheck is coming in.

Hahaha, good point. Early retirement isn’t really “retirement” in the traditional sense. It just means money is no longer a motivating factor and you can do work that matters most to you. For me, that work would probably be writing. I really enjoy freelance writing and would love to continue doing it in early retirement.

I agree and disagree in regard to money not being the motivator. I really think that the more we hone in on the work we most connect with, the more our income potential actually increases. After working for years improving and getting better at that work, once I reach “retirement” where I can give it my full energy, I see no reason why those can’t be the peak earning years of my life!

Couldn’t agree more. I see no reason to retire. I love what I do, which is helping and mentoring others to financial independence. Though I do plan on retiring from the National Guard at 60, but my main income I will do forever.

So good to hear this! I think the fruits of our labor is what keep us happy. My dream job would be to have a pen store. Have all kinds of rare and expensive, funny, cool looking pens (it’s weird I know). While a t the same time it being a humidor with cigars and whiskey. Almost like a writer’s paradise. I wouldn’t care to make too much profit because I would have multiple streams of income haha.

Financial Freedom is the key I completely agree! Then once your set I just believe you have some kind of obligation to give back share the knowledge you’ve gained. No such thing as work once you find purpose it’s on and cracking from there!

Yes freedom is the key word! Also, consider that the idea of “giving back” doesn’t have to be an obligation once you reach “success.” If your work provides value and meets needs in society, then your work itself is “giving back” along the way.

If you look at most of the bloggers out there who are retired they are for the most part staying quiet busy and doing a lot more than licking lettuce to survive.

They have just retired from working a 9-5 and commuting an hour to work and traveling all the time. I think like you most people who say early retirement are just looking for the freedom to choose without having to worry about money.

Exactly, and the lettuce leaf line was really just poking fun at how the advice can sometimes seem extreme without connecting back to why we’re making these choices in the first place.

The end goal most people imagine with early retirement may not be realistic, but more importantly, may not be their best possible life. I think being free to pursue the work you’re going to be the best at is the best early retirement scenario.

Lauren Nguyen

Absolutely! I retired at 56 and don’t have to work ever again. I commuted 2 hours a day and that is reason enough to be thrilled to retire. Freedom is the key. I took a$20k pay cut to a less stressful job my last 5 years because I was already debt free and my husband was retired. I am a consultant occasionally and when I am ready to do more, I will volunteer to teach adult literacy. I love being retired and young people need to realize there will come a day when you will want or need the option.

I so agree. I want to travel more with my life, which is something I hope to do once I achieve financial independence. I already do quite a bit with my job, which is why I like my job. I realize though that I am the type of person that needs to do something productive. Financial independence will result perhaps different jobs, or even reduced jobs, but it will not result in no job for me. Just because I enjoy accomplishing something.

Richard

Sounds like you are preaching to the chior here. Just don’t discount the millions of people who have soul-sucking jobs that they can’t wait t get away from. Not everyone is happy at work or fullflled by ther job. For many people getting away from awful jobs and bosses will greatly increase thier life statifaction even if they never work again. Have some empathy.

I absolutely understand that, and I don’t discount that feeling at all. However, the point I’m making is that work in general isn’t something to be escaped. Sure there are jobs that I enjoy way less than others, but I’m talking about work as a general state of producing, not just a particular job.

I do think that there are many people who could drastically benefit from a change in perspective that even though they don’t enjoy their job, it still brings meaning and purpose. It provides for them and their family, and they can make financial decisions to set themselves up for the future by being wise with the income it provides.

What this post is saying to them is that you don’t have to live in that spot forever. You can handle your money well now to set yourself up to be able to pursue opportunities you truly want to later. That makes the crappy work today have a purpose. It’s sending me somewhere.

No one is stuck. Some may have a longer road to independence than others, but we all can make decisions to set ourselves up for the future.

Great definition! What I’m chasing is freedom and autonomy above all else. I have no intention of doing nothing, I just don’t want to be an employee anymore. The concept of being an “employee” in our current context is about as historically recent as the concept of retirement. That’s what most of us want to retire from, I’d wager. What we want to retire to is as diverse and interesting as all of us lovely little millennial snowflakes. 🙂

Great post! Early retirement to me is simply redirecting the energy I currently expend at my 9-5 into something that’s more meaningful to me. I generally enjoy the work that I do and certainly love my team, but it would be better if I could pretty strictly work on my personal priorities.

This is a great article. Many don’t realize that the concept of retirement is only two generations old. Retirement should mean that you are free to enjoy work, projects, volunteering etc. that is truly important to you.

I would argue that for most of us retirement has the potential to be the most productive years of our lives. Once you have the expendable income and time to pursue things that truly matter to you, you accomplish much more in the world. I think we need to focus on shifting retirement dreams from buying RV’s and sitting on the beach to investing in work that we’re personally passionate about.

Obviously there’s plenty of room for beach vacations (yes, please) and RVing when you’re financially independent, but at that time of our lives when we’ve spent years learning and building skills/ideas, why shouldn’t we be producing our highest quality output by creating businesses or building something great?

Exactly! The day you’re able to do that out of passion and not a need for money (aka “retirement”) is the day you’ll enjoy it the most, and probably be way better at it! Best of luck, glad you enjoyed the post.

I agree and disagree. Almost no one’s idea of retirement is “hanging around” until death; therefore, this article’s argument is mostly semantic. It’s also the complete opposite of what the title suggests.

Retirement = Financial Independence = Freedom.

And when it comes to the line, “I’m a producer, not a consumer,” I couldn’t be more confused. What does this even mean?

Are you suggesting that people who have money invested in tens (or even hundreds) of American businesses — common for most early retirees — are strictly “consumers”? Just because you’ve reached a level where your passive income streams are on par with your expenses, you don’t stop “producing.” You’re on the same level as the owner of a company, except your assets are more diversified, and you probably don’t have majority control.

When I say I’m a producer rather than a consumer, I don’t mean that I don’t consume. What I’m implying is that what brings momentum and energy to my life is when I’m adding value. That’s basically what work is-it’s adding value, therefore you get paid.

My thesis is simply that when I reach the point of having passive income streams that can provide for my livelihood, I don’t want to stop pursuing work that improves the world I live in. Maybe that’s a business I own or work for, maybe it’s charitable work that I throw myself into, or maybe it’s managing investments with the goal of gaining the highest returns.

I just don’t want to ever get to the place where I’m not throwing my creative and industrious energy into something that adds value where it wasn’t before.

I recently read posts on Budgets are Sexy and Frugalwoods that got me thinking/posting about this. It has been a really good thinking process for me. I am late to this party, and so early retirement for me really isn’t that early. So I came to the conclusion that: ‘So, instead of waiting for a date in the future, to retire, I should really focus on doing something that I love.’

It is a tough question, but it starts with where you are. Even just the mental shift of seeing your current spot as the one that’s going to get you to the next one instead of a place that has to be endured will get you dreaming and coming up with fresh ideas.

I totally agree with you. My goal is to create a lifestyle I love – including work. I don’t want to work half my life with the sole aim of not working anymore – I want my work to be a part of my free, happy lifestyle.

I’m lucky that I’m young enough to be able to start building that lifestyle without anyone depending on me, but I think it’s an important thing for people at all stages in life to consider; are you happy now, or just ticking along waiting until you can be free?

Larr

I started a great career as an Air Traffic Controller 33 years ago. I have loved every minute of it. Next year I am forced out on my 56th birthday.. I am looking forward to no more commuting each way in heavy traffic for over an hour the most, and also getting some time off. I will be able to actually be off on a holiday! I have always had an inclination to beat the system; grow my own food, build solar and wind systems, fix my own cars, remodel my own houses, make my own fuel etc. I can’t wait to walk out to my shop every morning and go build something or learn something new each day. I know whatever I am working on that it will be to beat the system!

Great Post! I think we need to re-define “Retirement” in order for the concept of FIRE to make more sense. I see retirement as the point where my income outside of a traditional job can replace the job and I am free to make my living on my own terms. The goal is to be able to have more free time to put towards things we’re passionate about rather than trying to drive income (bonus points if we can drive income from something we’re passionate about).

The work that will get me out of bed early, even in retirement, is trying to educate people about money and life. My partner Alyssa will open an animal sanctuary to help with homeless pets and animals in need. We’ve got our road map to get there and are excited about the journey, not just the end result.

Chenedra

Love the read and agree 100%…my husband and I will work till our last breath in the corporate world as well as get our farm up and running! We are getting debt free and building our farm at the same time as we work in the corporate world. We’ll travel, golf, camp, etc on weekends and off periods and still work!

Tiffany Holden

I think a lot of the FIRE community, bloggers and readers alike, choose to use the term ‘early retirement’ because it is a short term to communicate to the uninitiated the sense of the idea, rather than “I am building up passive and semi-passive income from investments in stocks/real estate/etc. that maintains my base standard of living so I have the freedom to leave the 9-5 working model and choose my own hours, start my own business, work part time at a new project” and so on.

Once someone has the discipline, energy and perseverance to do what it takes to get off the hamster wheel of working 100% and spending 99%, they will be the type of person to always be busy with SOMETHING, whether it’s taking a year off to clean off the grime of a career and travel the world, or starting up a new business full time, or puttering along part time and focusing on the family/garden/volunteering.

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